1921/22 SEASON REVIEW
Before the season started, in early August, Billy Meredith, after bitter battles with Manchester United over money owed to him, moved to City on a free transfer, joining the Blues as player/coach at the age of 47.
Hyde Road had become a fortress for City and this continued on the openning day of the season as City beat Aston Villa 2-1, away from Manchester however things were quite different as The Blues lost 3-2 at Liverpool and 4-0 at Aston Villa.
Back in West Gorton City drew 1-1 against Liverpool and beat Arsenal 2-0, Arsenal were the opponents again, this time at Highbury and City won 1-0. The early Division One table showed The Blues in tenth position, two points behind leaders Aston Villa.
September finished with a 1-1 draw against Blackburn at Hyde Road.
October started with a 3-1 defeat at Ewood Park against Blackburn. Then City won three games on the trot, 2-1 against Oldham in Manchester, then at Boundary Park Oldham were beaten again, 1-0, and then against Manchester United in the Derby, City won 4-1 at Hyde Road, a week later at Old Trafford Manchester United got there revenge with a 3-1 win.
With a further 2-0 win at Cardiff City moved within three points of leaders Burnley with a third of the season gone.
The Blues finished November with mixed fortunes, drawing 1-1 at home to Cardiff then beating West Brom 6-1 again at Hyde Road, then losing 2-0 at The Hawthorns against West Brom.
City then lost two further games 3-2 against Bolton at Hyde Road and then 5-0 at Burnden Park again against Bolton, before beating Everton 2-1 at home.
Christmas brought a mixed bag as City drew 2-2 at Everton on Christmas Eve, then lost 2-0 at Huddersfield on Boxing Day, then on New Years Eve they beat Sunderland 3-0 at Hyde Road.
1922 started well with a 2-1 win against Huddersfield in Manchester then in the FA Cup City overcame a potential banana skin by beating 3rd Division Darlington 3-1 in the First Round.
Back in the league City won again, 3-2 at Sunderland and drew 2-2 at home to Middlesbrough before qualifying for the 3rd Round of The FA Cup with a 3-1 victory over Bolton at Burnden Park.
After being unbeaten in January City started February with a defeat, losing 4-1 at Middlesbrough. this was followed by a 3-3 draw against Tottenham at Hyde Road. And then a visit to White Hart Lane and Tottenham win 3-1, and a week later City returned to North London for a third game on the trot against Tottenham, this time in the 3rd Round of the FA Cup, Spurs were the victors again with a 2-1 win.
City got back on track with a 3-2 win against Bradford at Hyde Road and then at Valley Parade Bradford were beaten again 2-1. City were now 8th in Division 1.
The Blues then failed to win a game or even score a goal in March. They lost 1-0 at Preston, then drew 0-0 at Chelsea, a game in which City forward Paddy Kelly broke his leg. Another 0-0 draw followed at Hyde Road again against Chelsea. With less than a quarter of the season left City slipped to ninth in the league.
City continued in mid-table obscurity losing 1-0 at Sheffield United, then in three games at Hyde Road The Blues beat Preston 2-0, drew 2-2 with Sheffield United and beat Birmingham 1-0.
They then lost 5-2 at Turf Moor against Burnley and 3-1 at St Andrews against Birmingham.
The season petered out with a 2-0 victory over Burnley at Hyde Road, a 5-1 defeat at Newcastle and in the last game of the season City beat Newcastle 1-0, but the bad news was that Max Woosnam broke his right shin bone.
City keeper Tom Blair then announced he was giving up English football to emigrate to Canada, and so The Blues signed Preston’s amateur goalie James Mitchell to replace him.
With the sad demise of Hyde Road City had the option of building a new ground at Belle Vue, however the board announced that by the start of 1923/24 season The Blues would be in situ at a new ground in Rusholme with a possible capacity of 120,000.